


Chitin

by FlippySpatula



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Bugs & Insects, David now does stuff, Entomophobia, F/F, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hilda and Frida do magic and David is kinda just there, How Do I Tag, No beta we die like David did twice, So I'm fixing it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29231508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlippySpatula/pseuds/FlippySpatula
Summary: Chitin: A polymer commonly associated with insects and arthropods, though it also is the primary component of the cell walls in fungi. An integral part of many composite materials, it forms the basis for exoskeletons and shells. Depending on how the chitin is structured, it can take on many roles, from the skin of a caterpillar to the scales of a butterfly.Alternatively: David finds out what is up with all the bugs.
Relationships: David & Frida & Hilda (Hilda), David & Hilda (Hilda)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You've got a bug on you"
> 
> They were the words that followed him everywhere. But it was only recently that he got comfortable with even the idea that bugs were attracted to him.

“You’ve got a bug on you.”

For as long as he could remember, bugs seemed to have an unnatural attraction to him. Thus, that phrase seemed to follow him almost everywhere he went. It came from well-meaning strangers, from curious classmates and friends, and from his fondly exasperated family members. It was rare that he could fall asleep at night without having heard it at least once that day.

Depending on the source, the phrase came wrapped in different packaging. From schoolmates, it was often carried by fear, sometimes even accompanied by shouts and screams, although the more confident children tended to react with barely concealed disgust. His parents, having raised him his entire life, were more than used to the phrase. The individual words melded together from overuse, their meanings condensed into what felt, at times, like a single word. Strangers on the street and in the stores were more mature, instead saying those words with quiet concern. They seemed to expect him to break out screaming, like some of his classmates tended to do, so they handled him delicately, as though they expected him to panic and scream.

And for much of his childhood, he did.

For a long time, he dreaded hearing those words. They caused him to become fixated on the nerves in his skin, looking desperately for the bug in question. Adrenaline flooded his system, forcing him to comb over every inch of his body for the interloper.

If he was lucky enough for his parents to be the ones to see it, they would absently pluck the bug off his clothes, though even in those ideal conditions his skin continued to buzz uncomfortably for a long time afterward.

Unfortunately, his parents were not always around to grab the little bug. Without someone calm enough to reach out and remove the bug, his panic began to spiral. Those familiar words were then followed by the flailing of limbs and panicked swatting until the unlucky insect was flung off. If the unfortunate detector in question was a weak-willed classmate, they often joined in, screaming in fright.

Insects, to put it simply, scared him.

Until they didn’t.

It started, he supposed, with the fruit flies.

He had been working on homework at his desk at home when one of the little bugs landed on the corner of his notebook. For once, though, he didn’t startle or fall out of his seat. He felt…oddly calm.

He was so used to feeling frightened whenever he saw any kind of bug that the distinct lack of adrenaline shocked him nearly as much as if the tiny fly had been a great hairy tarantula. 

Curiously, he bent forward to look closer at the little fruit fly.

It was a small thing. Barely bigger than the eraser bits littered around his desk. It seemed oddly transparent, the only clear bit of color being the dark red eyes.

As he leaned forward, though, the bug took flight again. He backed away warily, but again, he wasn’t startled by the bug, instead perturbed by his body’s lack of reaction to it. He watched the little bug circle lazily around the desk before landing again near his notebook.

He felt a little grin forming on his face. He hadn’t been feeling lonely before, but the little fly provided an odd sense of companionship he hadn’t felt before, even with other humans.

Under the blood red eyes of the little fruit fly he returned to his homework, for once feeling content while knowing he was in the presence of a bug.

Next had to be the ants.

It was during the school’s break time. He was sitting with his back to the decorative fountain in the courtyard, alone. It was before he regularly hung out with Frida, before he had any real, close friends.

He certainly did not mind the solitude. School was loud, with so many things happening at once. He liked the brief respite from the noise, from the classmates that shouted, and most importantly from those words that haunted him every day.

A faint tickling sensation on his skin had him bringing his arm up from the ground to inspect. Crawling slowly across the back of his hand was a tiny pavement ant. Once again, he was expecting his body to enter panic mode; again, the lack of a reaction unsettled him.

He watched the little ant lazily traverse the skin of his hand. He absently turned his hand over, keeping the ant in his sights. Whenever it moved a bit too close to the sleeves of his shirt, he put his other hand in the way, allowing the ant to explore his other hand.

The bell rang, signaling the end of break. He jumped a bit, not realizing the time had passed so quickly. It had been nice, to have something to focus on. Better than absently staring at the children loudly playing in the courtyard. And the little pavement ant provided better companionship than any of the other schoolchildren did, with their loud noises and disgusted gazes.

He sighed, letting the ant crawl off his fingers and back onto the pavement it came from, before standing up. It was time to face school once more.

(In the middle of maths class, he felt another faint tickling sensation, this time on his other hand. He smiled, letting the ant onto his desk as he let the teacher’s voice flow over him)

Last were probably the ladybugs.

Odd that they weren’t the first, considering the bright colored beetles were one of the few insects tolerated by his classmates. Whenever they saw one outside, instead of screaming in fright, they screamed in delight, calling over all of their friends to look at the little bug.

One afternoon, at the sparrow scout lodge, he spotted a little red Ladybug crawling along the window. Again, instead of the primal fear that bugs usually sparked, he got to look at it in quiet fascination. Eventually, it got spotted by some of the other scouts, and they called everybody over to come see. Even the Raven Leader paused what she was doing to give an impromptu lesson about the wonders of Ladybugs.

He asked, hesitantly, why they didn’t mind the ladybugs. The answer he got wasn’t very enlightening. They were considered “lucky,” for some odd reason. And they ate aphids, keeping gardens healthy.

The answers were odd, and not particularly fulfilling. Spiders also ate bugs that could harm gardens, but they were universally condemned by the children in his class. 

It gave him something to think about, something to ponder. The train of thought led to other inconsistencies that the classmates (and, to some extent, himself) held. Regular beetles were icky, and if they could fly they were terrifying. But slap a shiny red color and some cute spots on them and they were “cute.” Bees were great because they produced honey and helped pollinate plants but if there was a bee in the courtyard during break everybody started panicking. Pillbugs were cute because they could roll up in a ball, but centipedes and millipedes, which couldn’t, were just ignored.

Butterflies were majestic and beautiful while moths were scary creatures that came out at night to scare people.

Maybe, he thought, it didn’t matter what his classmates thought. 

“You’ve got a bug on you.” His mother reached out and plucked an insect from the top of his head.

And for the first time, he frowned, feeling not relieved, but disappointed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David: Why do people keep killing bugs?  
> Frida: No  
> David: It really _bugs_ me!  
> Frida: Why  
> Hilda: *WHEEZE


	2. A Winter Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a cold winter day and David makes some friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaay I'm back with a new chapter nice job good on me.
> 
> I've barely even edited this so I'll probably come back later and fix some things.

It was a wonderful sunny spring day outside. The birds were chirping and the flowers were blooming. That’s not to say it was perfect, though. The sun was just a bit too bright and the pollen sometimes made his eyes water. Nonetheless, it was still a very nice day to be outside.

David was walking with Hilda and Frida, enjoying the nice spring day. They were all giggling after someone had told a witty joke. Hilda and Frida were conversing about where they were going and what they thought they would find.

Eventually they came up on a crack in the ground. Hilda and Frida casually jumped across, barely even noticing what they were doing. David prepared to follow them, but then made the mistake of looking down.

It was a deep chasm. Very deep. Sharp rocks littered the walls of the ravine, leading all the way to the bottom, where jagged boulders littered the ground. It would have been a mercy if it had been too dark to see the bottom, he thought, because then he could have pretended it wasn’t too deep. But he wasn’t blessed with blissful uncertainty. A fall from that height, he knew, would be painful and deadly.

He looked back up, expecting to see Hilda and Frida on the other side, asking what was taking so long. But all he could see was their retreating backs as they moved on without him. He tried to call out to them, but for some reason his voice wouldn’t work. No matter what he did to get their attention, they kept laughing and talking and walking away without looking back.

He looked down at the ravine again. Maybe if he could jump over, he could catch up. But the ravine seemed to have gotten wider. The gap he would have to cross now didn’t even look physically possible to jump, regardless of his own willpower. And the ravine wasn’t just getting wider, it was getting longer. The rip in the earth was spreading, expanding, bending, trying to encircle him. He wanted to back away, but he was frozen. His friends were still up ahead, if he could just catch up to them.

A cracking noise behind him signaled that the tear in the earth had completely encircled him. And, without warning, the earth fell away from around him, leaving him isolated on a slowly deteriorating column of earth.

He was stuck. He couldn’t move forward to catch up to Hilda and Frida, and he couldn’t move back to where they had come from. He tried to call out for them, but they were too far away to hear them even if his voice was working properly. He felt trapped, confused, and most of all, abandoned.

The circle of earth underneath him fell away, leaving him screaming, falling into the depths of the ravine.

David startled awake.

He lay still for a while, getting his breathing under control. He glanced over at his alarm clock, the glowing red numbers indicating that he still had a couple hours before he needed to wake up. He sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon. Eventually, he yanked his covers off, exposing him to the cold air.

The sudden temperature change helped jolt him to consciousness, allowing his mind to fully wake. He hopped out of bed and pulled back the curtains on his window, hoping for sunlight to help warm him up. Unfortunately, it was much too early for the sun to be rising, so instead of throwing his room into light it extended the visible reach of the darkness.

In contrast to the bright and sunny springtime of his dream, Trolberg was currently in the middle of winter. Dark clouds, only barely visible from the lights of the city, blocked the stars and moon, keeping the city solely illuminated by the dark orange haze of the streetlights. Skeletal shadows of leafless trees littered the streets outside his window, covered in tiny spikes of frost.

David shivered, closing the curtains. He was still a bit shaken from his dream, and the dreary weather outside certainly wasn’t helping. Instead, he blindly walked over to the doorway, fumbling a bit before finding the light switch and flipping it on. He blinked a bit, letting his eyes adjust, before walking back over to his bed and sitting down.

Even with the lights on, his mind was still stuck in the dark caverns of his dream. Despite being awake, the memory of falling down into the ravine was still all too fresh. He tried to think of something else, but the vague images and sounds he used to try to distract himself with were not enough. The memory, the feeling, the emptiness, it all encircled his mind. His breathing sped up, his skin crawling and itching in discomfort.

Movement in the corner of his vision brought him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he noticed a small bug flying around the room. He let his eyes follow the lazy flight path of the bug around the room. It could have been because it was tangible and not imaginary, or it could have just been his odd connection with insects, but the little bug, more so than any of his own efforts, managed to finally distract him from thinking about his dream. Eventually though, the bug seemed to get tired, and made a beeline for the nearest surface to rest on.

Which happened to be David’s left arm.

As was becoming much more common recently, David wasn’t bothered at all by the contact. It was a bit startling, of course, but certainly not alarming or scary. Now that it was still, David could easily identify the bug as a small yellowish ladybug. It lay still, relaxing and absorbing his body heat. 

For whatever reason, the little ladybug, more than opening the curtains or flicking on the lights, finally gave him the motivation to get up and prepared for the day. He stood up, offering a finger for the ladybug to climb onto before moving it to his neck (He didn’t want to accidentally crush it). He then shrugged off his pajamas and pulled on his school clothes.

As he bustled around the bedroom getting ready for school (quietly, of course, so as not to wake up his parents), he pondered what he would do in the hours before school started. On a normal day he barely had time to make it to school before the first bell rang. But his dream (nightmare?) had given him a few extra hours to do whatever he wanted.

What did he want, though?

Choosing to ignore the direction his thoughts were going, he instead decided to simply start heading to school as usual. He could spend the time before school actually started at the park right outside the building.

He quietly made his way through the house getting ready. Into the bathroom to freshen up, back into his bedroom to grab his school supplies, down the stairs into the kitchen to get breakfast, a quick stop in the home office to leave a note for his parents, and lastly, grabbing his winter gear out of the closet.

As he slid on his coat, he was careful to leave a bit of space for the ladybug still resting on the back of his neck. It was cold, and David wasn’t one to deny someone or something a source of warmth. After he checked to make sure he had everything for school, he opened the door to the chilly winter air and started to walk.

The journey over to the school building was much quieter than he was used to. He tended to leave when people were getting ready for work. Cars were driving down the streets, and there were always people on the sidewalks. But this early, there was almost nobody around. Though despite the distinct lack of people, he didn’t feel isolated. Maybe it was the large buildings rising up on either side of the street, walling him in. Or the warm clothes hugging his body to keep out the winter chill. Or the tiny tickling sensation on the back of his neck signaling the little ladybug making a home for itself.

The frost crunched under his shoes as he continued to walk. Despite the cold air biting at his cheeks and the dreary frozen atmosphere, it was quite enjoyable. The dark orange haze of the streetlights, while an intimidating sight from his bedroom, helped contribute pleasantly to the unique environment he traveled. 

The only thing dampening his contentment was the lingering unease from his dream. As nice as the walk this early ended up being, it certainly wasn’t worth the anxiety from being woken up by a nightmare. Since under normal circumstances he tended to sleep in as long as possible, he doubted that he would get to enjoy this environment again barring some other external influence.

Eventually, he arrived at the school. This early, the building was closed and locked, as expected. It was odd, seeing the usually bright and busy building being cold and dark and quiet. He made his way over to the adjacent park, taking a seat with his back to a nearby tree stump. The frost crunched a bit as he sat down, and then there was silence.

Perhaps sensing that the journey was over, the ladybug started to move again. The light tickling sensation of the bug’s legs crawling along his body moved around his neck and disappeared as it reached his collarbone. Looking down, he saw that the bug had moved onto his sweater, crawling down the front of his body before settling right above his heart. He shuffled a bit, resting his hands on his chest to help protect the bug from the elements.

Maybe it was the change in scenery, maybe it was the extra time to center himself, or maybe it was the little ladybug resting on his heart, but sitting there, in the park outside the school, was much more peaceful than when he was stuck in his room.

Time seemed to pass remarkably quickly, then, as he watched the dark grey cloud-covered sky slowly lighten as the sun rose and the dawn gradually progressed into morning. It was nice, he thought, to see the world slowly wake up like this around him. His tired mind let the hours pass faster than he was expecting, even though paradoxically everything around him was moving very slowly.

Eventually, of course, his time of introspection came to an end as the shrill sound of the bell rang across the schoolyard. Sighing, he stood up, brushing off his pants and letting the ladybug hide once again inside his clothes, before heading over to meet up with Frida and Hilda. Now that he made it back to a point on his normal schedule, hopefully things could go back to normal.

Sure enough, school passed by perfectly uneventful. Or as uneventful as it could be, considering one of his best friends was named Hilda. All things considered, though, the multiple times in the day where Hilda butted heads with both the teachers and the students were quite tame in comparison to what they could have ended up being. As the bell rang signaling the end of the day, he felt confident that things were back to normal. His walk home was noisy, like usual, and his parents greeted him as he entered the house. Perfectly normal.

David entered his room and let the door close behind him. He shrugged of his winter coat and hat and made to hang them up before stopping abruptly. There was a tiny black dot moving along his shirt sleeve. Probably agitated by him taking his coat off, it crawled along his sweater towards his wrist before slipping inside the cuff.

Knowing his propensity for bugs, he supposed it wasn’t too surprising that more bugs had found their way into his clothing. He had, in fact, sat outside in the grass for a couple solid hours that morning. And due to the cold winter chill, it made sense that they would prefer resting inside his clothes rather than face the cold winter chill.

Oddly, the knowledge didn’t bother him very much. Winter was bad enough for him, a warm-blooded mammal, so for insects with their tiny bodies it must be much worse. Even if he were still a bit disgusted by them, he couldn’t really blame the bugs for seeking out a source of warmth.

Well, if he was taking care of the bugs, he would be doing it _right_.

David wasn’t exactly sure what bugs ate, but he had some pretty good guesses. Fruit flies obviously ate fruit, and he figured that the sugary juice was probably good enough for some of the other insects he was hosting. Ants stereotypically ruined picnics, so they must be able to eat picnic food, like sandwiches.

He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, making his way over to the fruit bowl. He grabbed a small apple, then went over to the breadbox for a slice of bread.

“What are you up to?” His dad’s voice suddenly appeared from behind him.

He jumped, startled. “Uh… Nothing! Just, getting myself a snack!”

His dad looked over at the food he was carrying, skeptical. Then he suddenly smiled. “Well, I’m glad you’re choosing something healthy. I thought you were getting yourself another bag of those Jorts!”

David laughed, a bit uncomfortable, before absconding back up to his room.

A chunk of the apple was placed on his desk, followed by some breadcrumbs and a couple drops of water in a bottle cap.

Here David was stuck. How would he get the bugs to eat the food? They seemed comfortable just resting on him.

Hesitantly, he pulled up his sleeve a bit, holding his wrist out. His sweater was loose enough for bugs to enter and exit through the cuffs, so he adjusted his arm in order to let the bugs travel down his arm directly to the desk with the food. 

Sure enough, lured by the food, the bugs started crawling off his arm. It was an odd sensation, though not entirely unpleasant. The tiny, almost imperceptible tickles moved across his body towards his outstretched arm. First a couple tiny ants, then the slower crawl of a fruit fly or two, and then a light tickle from the back of his neck signaled the familiar yellowish ladybug taking flight and landing next to the chunk of apple.

It was oddly pleasant, he thought, watching the insects begin to eat. It was mesmerizing, watching the individual insects move between the different types of food and the drops of water. It was nice, he realized, to take care of something.

He was always the one being taken care of. Saying he was the weakest of his friends wasn’t an exaggeration by any means. Hilda and Frida constantly took the lead in bringing them adventure, and David simply didn’t. He was not a leader by any definition of the word. He was just…there.

And it wasn’t just with their adventures. He never spoke up in class, and he always relied on Frida to make the plans for getting sparrow scout badges. He could barely even work up the nerve to share his favorite music genre, let alone any strong opinions.

For the most part, though, he was okay with it. His cowardice served to balance Hilda’s impulsiveness and Frida’s more wary but certainly no less enthusiastic nature. Or at least he thought. His entire dream had been about Hilda and Frida casually jumping a gap that, to David at least, was insurmountable. He liked being friends with Hilda and Frida, but sometimes he couldn’t help but feel he was pulling them down.

But now, he was taking responsibility of something of his own. It was a new feeling. But not necessarily a bad one.

Focusing again on the desk in front of him, the bugs seemed to be finished eating.

Now he had to decide what to do next with the bugs. His parents, while having excused a lot of bug-related behavior from him in the past, probably would not take kindly to making an impromptu bug farm in his room. They would probably have him put them outside, if they didn’t just pluck them off of him and crush them outright. But even with his limited bug knowledge, he knew the cold winter air was inhospitable to most bugs. David didn’t quite feel right sending a bunch of insects out just to probably freeze and die. 

The only way to keep them safe was to take care of them the same way he already had been.

He held his wrist out again, pressed against the table, silently inviting the bugs back to his body. Hesitantly, the first ant crawled onto his body and disappeared up his sleeve. Slowly, the others followed. The little yellow ladybug suddenly took flight, causing David to flinch involuntarily, but it simply landed on his shoulder before settling in on his sweater.

It was kind of weird, he thought, that the bugs were so well behaved. He remembered hearing horror stories about ants getting loose in a house and being impossible to corral. Then again, as a friend of Hilda, weird was his new normal. He decided not to think about it anymore.

As he did his homework and got ready for bed that night, he felt different. Now that he knew that they were there, the bugs provided an odd sense of companionship that he had only felt before during sleepovers with his friends.

He didn’t fall asleep alone that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David: exists  
> Bugs: It's free real estate  
> David: Guess I'll become free real estate
> 
> Fr tho I've got a bunch of chapters planned out its just a matter of writing them.


End file.
